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A 49-year-old Mississauga woman has died after a scuba diving accident in the St. Lawrence River, according to the OPP.

The incident occurred around 2 p.m. on the St. Lawrence River, around 5 km west of Brockville, Ont. Leeds County detachment OPP officers responded to a call for a diver in distress, and the Marine Unit helped in removing the woman from the water.

Sgt. Kristine Rae of the OPP said the woman was with a group of divers, but the circumstances of her death are still under investigation. It appears no other divers were injured.

The woman was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead, shortly afterwards, Rae said.

A local man who owns a vacation home in the area said that recreational dives are very common, as there are a number of shipwrecks frequented by divers in the St. Lawrence.

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Helen Cooper, the owner of ABUCS Scuba, confirmed that the woman left on a dive from her company on Tuesday to see the wreck of the Henry C. Daryaw – a steel propeller freighter that sunk in the St. Lawrence in 1941.

The dive is not considered extraordinarily dangerous, but Cooper categorized it as “an advanced dive.” Cooper said the woman was accompanied by her dive buddy.

“Everything was done professionally and everyone involved did everything that they could to save her,” Cooper said. The U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard also attended the accident, she said.

“Everything was done in everybody’s power to take care of her.”

ABUCS Scuba is celebrating 20 years of operations July 15, and Cooper said dives to Daryaw are common.

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